Industry4Europe campaign achieves more successes

Tuesday, 30 May 2017 10:10

Industry4Europe campaign achieves more successes

Since the launch of the Industry4Europe campaign back in February, much work has been done to persuade the EU to take a stronger stance on industrial policy. As a signatory to the campaign's Joint Declaration, Intergraf congratulates the campaign on its recent successes and hopes for more in the near future!

The number of signatories of the Joint Declaration now stands at 128. It has also gained support in the European Parliament and the Council. Following support from the Maltese Council presidency, on Monday 29th May, the Council unanimously adopted Conclusions on a future EU industrial policy strategy. The Conclusions call for further streamlining of legislation and removal of barriers to stimulate a more growth-friendly regulatory environment for industry. The Council has also called on the Commission to provide a stronger EU industry strategy in time for the European Council meeting in spring 2018.

At the following press conference, Poland's Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, stated that "We all agreed on some key horizontal actions to be taken. We also agreed that we need some sectoral focus where it’s necessary", concluding that "we are now much stronger equipped for the future discussions on the coherent unified industrial policy document in the European Commission".

The Industry4Europe campaign calls on the Commission to do the following:

reaffirm its commitment to reaching the target of 20% of GDP from industry, with an ambitious and realistic timeline;

adopt an Action Plan to tackle the challenges that the industrial sectors are facing, in the framework of a Communication that would include concrete steps and milestones; and

commit to implement this Action Plan in a timely manner and regularly report on progress.

For more information, follow the hashtag #Industry4Europe on Twitter, or read the full Joint Declaration of the campaign.